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Yes, we should all be debating more serious matters, like the Fiscal Cliff and the troubles in the Middle East and whether Mick Jagger should just retire already. But apparently there is another storm brewing:

Is "foodie" a word?

Before you choke on your vegan veggie chips, here is why this question is even being asked. Sam Sifton, the former New York Times restaurant critic, now national news editor, sent out a tweet recently that said: "Foodie is not a word."

Okay, fine, no big deal, right? Grammatically, he's correct. Except, well, a whole lot of people say foodie, are foodies, have friends who are foodies, like foodies, and even like the word foodie.

Sifton inspired a writer in Milwaukee who, naturally, calls himself the Wisconsin Foodie, to fire back with a lengthy blog post that included this dig:

What troubled me was not the latently New York-centric, snobbish subtext, which I have come to expect from Sifton, but that the comment was aimed and fired, like an unexpected spit ball in a high school hallway, at people like me.

Sifton answered with this tweet today: "If it is "New York-centric" to not want to sound like a 5 year-old, then I am clearly a New Yorker. Detest the word."

He may detest it, but as another tweet on the subject said: "Only a pretentious nincompoop would pretend "foodie" ain't a word." It was only lacking a nyah-na-na-na-nyah at the end.

And so, as Michael Buffer likes to say, Let's get ready to rumbbbbbbbble!

Any thoughts on this? And then we can all get back to what really matters these days. Mick.

Contributors

Devra First is the Globe's food reporter and restaurant critic. Her reviews appear weekly in the Food section.

Ellen Bhang reviews Cheap Eats restaurants for the Globe and writes about wine.

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